Transit

June 14, 2023

NYC sets first-ever minimum wage for delivery workers

New York City has established the first minimum wage in the country for app-based delivery workers. Starting July 12, workers will be paid at least $17.96 per hour plus tips, with an increase to $19.96 per hour by April 1, 2025, Mayor Eric Adams and the Department of Consumer and Worker Protections announced this week. The new policy comes two years after the City Council passed legislation designed to improve labor conditions for delivery workers.
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June 7, 2023

MTA celebrates Pride Month with train decals and limited-edition MetroCards

In celebration of Pride Month, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has decorated subway cars, buses, and commuter rail lines with Pride-themed decals, digital displays, and posters. The agency also released a special MetroCard that is available at select subway stations throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.
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May 23, 2023

NYC subway, bus fare to increase to $2.90 by end of summer, under MTA proposal

New York City commuters will likely pay more for subway, bus, and commuter rail trips by the end of the summer. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Monday unveiled its proposal for fare increases across the system. The cost of a single subway and bus trip would increase by 5 percent from $2.75 to $2.90, the first base fare increase since 2015.
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May 22, 2023

MSG should stay above Penn Station, says Manhattan borough president

Madison Square Garden should be granted a new operating permit and be allowed to stay put, as long as it gives up some of its space for the expansion of Penn Station, Manhattan Borough Mark Levine said on Monday. As first reported by Crain's New York, Levine's recommendation includes demolishing MSG's theater and replacing it with a new grand entrance facing Eighth Avenue, a new mid-block entrance, and a double-height concourse. To do this, Levine advises giving MSG a new five-year special permit, if the Garden works with the city, state, and railroads to redevelop Penn Station and the surrounding area.
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May 18, 2023

MTA unveils redesign of NYC subway turnstile as fare evasion solution

To deter the roughly 400,000 subway riders who don't pay the fare every day, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to redesign the turnstiles for the first time in modern history. The agency on Wednesday unveiled a potential design of a new subway fare gate that includes glass doors that slide open, replacing the rotating turnstiles that have been part of the system since its inception. The new gates would remove the need for emergency exit doors, which the MTA said accounts for more than half of all fare evasion.
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May 11, 2023

300-foot timber bridge connecting the High Line and Moynihan Train Hall has been installed

The elevated pathway that will connect the High Line to the new Moynihan Train Hall hit a major milestone this week. The 260-foot-long timber bridge has been craned into place and is currently suspended 25 feet over Dyer Avenue. The new footbridge connects Manhattan West's public plaza Magnolia Court to a pedestrian pathway at West 31st Street, providing an easier way of accessing the Moynihan Train Hall without having to cross multiple streets. The timber bridge will link to the so-called Woodland Bridge, which will extend east from the existing northern terminus of the High Line. The new linear park, dubbed the High Line-Moynihan Train Hall Connector, is expected to open in late June.
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May 8, 2023

NYC’s congestion pricing program gains key approval

New York City's congestion pricing plan is finally moving forward after years of delays. President Joe Biden's administration last week approved the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's environmental review of their proposed Central Business District Tolling Program, which would charge drivers for entering certain parts of Manhattan at peak hours. With this initial approval from the Federal Highway Administration, a 30-day public review period is now open. The MTA said the new tolling system could launch as soon as spring 2024, as Politico reported.
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May 5, 2023

MTA service alerts are back on Twitter

After suspending the use of Twitter for real-time service alerts just last week, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has resumed posting on the social media platform. The decision comes after Twitter reversed plans to charge government agencies for using its application programming interface (API), which would have cost the MTA $50,000 per month.
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May 2, 2023

Broadway Junction’s overhaul to include $500M in safety, public space, and accessibility upgrades

New York City is investing nearly $500 million to revitalize the area around one of Brooklyn's busiest transit hubs. The overhaul of East New York's Broadway Junction subway station includes accessibility upgrades, two new public plazas, and safety improvements as part of the city's effort to make the hub a regional transit center, Mayor Eric Adams announced Tuesday. Work is expected to begin in 2027 and finish by 2030.
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April 28, 2023

MTA suspends use of Twitter for service alerts, calls the platform ‘unreliable’

New York City commuters will no longer be able to check Twitter for service alerts. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Thursday suspended the use of Twitter for posting service alerts, stating that the social media platform's reliability "can no longer be guaranteed." The transit agency's Twitter access through its application programming interface (API) was "involuntarily interrupted" twice in the last two weeks on April 14 and April 27.
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April 25, 2023

300 NYC blocks to go car-free under this year’s ‘Open Streets’ program

Nearly 300 blocks across New York City will be closed to cars as part of the city's 2023 Open Streets program, the Department of Transportation announced this Earth Day. This year's program will have roughly 160 open streets, including more than 25 new locations. The program also features new redesigns of existing locations that prioritize pedestrians and cyclists and will "evolve beyond the need for metal barriers." While the final list of open streets is still being finalized, many are expected to launch by July 1.
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April 24, 2023

NYC subway tops 4 million daily riders for the first time since March 2020

For the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the New York City subway system served more than four million riders in a single day. Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday announced the NYC subway system recorded 4,002,961 paid riders on April 20, the highest tally reached since March 12, 2020. OMNY, the transit system's contactless fare system, also set a single-day subway record on Thursday with 1,699,914 taps, representing 42.5 percent of the day's subway rides.
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April 12, 2023

New NYC subway announcements recorded by children with autism

New York City subway commuters will be guided by announcements recorded by young New Yorkers in recognition of World Autism Awareness Month. To bring attention to the millions of people living with autism worldwide, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and INCLUDEnyc invited children with autism to record subway announcements that both encourage straphangers to follow transit rules and remind them of Autism Awareness Month. The recordings are playing in select subway stations through Sunday, April 30.
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April 10, 2023

NYC will create 20 ‘micro’ delivery hubs this summer to reduce truck traffic

Starting this summer, New York City will create new hubs to make package delivery more sustainable and efficient, while also reducing truck congestion. As part of a pilot program announced by the Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, the new "microhubs" include dedicated curbside or off-street locations for trucks to unload packages onto smaller, energy-efficient vehicles or human-powered transportation like bikes and hand carts that will bring deliveries to their destination.
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April 5, 2023

NYC to host largest-ever car-free Earth Day celebration

New York City is marking Earth Day with its largest car-free celebration yet. The city's Department of Transportation's annual Open Streets: Car-Free Earth Day event connects 100 open streets across the city, 22 plazas, and over 1,000 miles of the five borough's bike network to promote environmental activism and sustainable forms of transportation. This year's celebration will be held on Saturday, April 22 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and include seven separate signature event locations and 23 community-produced locations featuring live performances, fitness instruction, giveaways, and educational programming.
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April 3, 2023

What New Yorkers should know about Trump’s arraignment in NYC

For the first time in history, a president of the United States has been charged with a crime. After arriving in Manhattan on Monday night, former President Donald Trump will travel from Trump Tower in Midtown to the office of the Manhattan district attorney to surrender to authorities and be arraigned at a Lower Manhattan courthouse. Swarms of media personnel and protestors are expected to line up to witness the historic event. Here's what New Yorkers should know about how New York City has prepared for Tuesday, including possible street closures and other security plans.
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March 31, 2023

A Queens-themed photo installation is now on view at JFK Airport

A new digital art installation in JFK Airport's Terminal 4 explores what "home" means to New Yorkers. The T4 Arts & Culture program partnered with the Museum of the City of New York to bring New York Now: Home, the first installation of an ongoing photography series at the museum that debuted this month, to the terminal. The 15 images now on display throughout Terminal 4 were either created by an artist with a connection to Queens or who make the borough the subject of their work.
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March 30, 2023

NYC to launch new hybrid ferry to Governors Island

New York City's first-ever public hybrid-electric ferry will set sail next summer. Revealed on Wednesday by Mayor Eric Adams and the Trust for Governors Island, the new vessel uses a hybrid propulsion system that drastically reduces air pollution, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by roughly 600 tons per year, according to a press release. The ferry will start carrying passengers between Lower Manhattan and Governors Island in the summer of 2024.
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March 30, 2023

Ride a vintage subway car to Yankee Stadium for the home opener

Yankee fans headed to the team's home opener on Thursday can arrive in the Bronx in style. The New York Transit Museum will run its historic 1917 IRT Lo-V train and the beloved Train of Many Colors from Grand Central-42nd Street to 161st-Street Yankee Stadium. The trains will depart at 11 a.m. sharp, giving eager baseball fanatics plenty of time before the first pitch at 1:05 p.m.
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March 27, 2023

MTA to install dedicated stroller spaces on over 1,000 NYC buses across 57 routes

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority last week announced it would begin the second phase of its Open Stroller Pilot, expanding its dedicated stroller spaces to over 1,000 buses on 57 routes across the five boroughs. The program will equip all local and select buses operating out of six bus depots with dedicated stroller spaces by the fall of 2023.
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March 22, 2023

7-mile Harlem River Greenway expansion connects Randall’s Island to Van Cortlandt Park

New York City is expanding the Harlem River Greenway to the Bronx. Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday announced plans for a seven-mile continuous walking and biking path linking Randall's Island and Van Cortlandt Park. The new greenway aims to reconnect Bronxites to the Harlem River waterfront, which has been largely inaccessible since the construction of the Major Deegan Expressway in the 1930s.
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March 22, 2023

NYC to lift ban on e-bikes in city parks this summer

New Yorkers will soon be able to ride electric bikes and scooters in New York City parks legally. As part of a pilot program starting this summer, the city's Department of Parks and Recreation will drop its current ban on certain electric vehicles on park drives and greenways, lifting a rule that conflicts with state laws. The pilot program is one part of a plan unveiled by Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday aimed at promoting the safe usage of e-bikes and other electric micro-mobility devices and preventing fires caused by lithium-ion batteries.
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March 16, 2023

New York lawmakers call for $2.75 fare freeze and free bus pilot in NYC

New York lawmakers on Tuesday proposed keeping New York City subway and bus fares at $2.75. As first reported by Crain's New York, the state legislature's one-house budgets rejected Gov. Kathy Hochul's proposal to raise transit fares to $3, and instead called for a freeze on fares and an investment of $50 million for a free bus pilot program.
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March 14, 2023

Plans for AirTrain to LaGuardia have been scrapped

Plans to build an AirTrain to LaGuardia Airport are officially dead after the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Monday released the results of a 17-month-long analysis of mass transit options to the Queens airport. A panel of experts recommended the Port Authority abandon the proposed 1.5-mile elevated rail line and instead move forward with improving existing bus service and adding a new non-stop airport shuttle. Estimated costs for the bus options are just under $500 million, according to the report, compared to estimates of between $2.4 billion and $6.2 billion for light rail options.
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